page_title: William Gibbs (businessman)
section_title: Tyntesfield
hierarchical_section_title: William Gibbs (businessman) / Tyntesfield
caption_attribution_description: Tyntesfield Chapel - South Side
context_page_description: William Gibbs was an English businessman, best known as one of three founding partners in Antony Gibbs & Sons, a religious philanthropist, and the owner who developed Tyntesfield in Wraxall, North Somerset.
context_section_description: From the start of his partnership with his brother in the business through to his death, William Gibbs' principal residence was always in London. On marrying, William moved from his brother's house in Bedford Square to 13 Hyde Park Street. The family then moved to Gloucester Place in 1849, and two years later to 16 Hyde Park Gardens, which the family owned until Blanche's death.
  However, being a man of substance who travelled regularly to the Port of Bristol on business, he sought out a residence in the area. In 1843, he bought the Tyntes Place estate near Wraxall, Somerset, which lay only 8 miles (13 km) from the centre of Bristol. In 1854 Gibbs commissioned John Gregory Crace to redecorate 16 Hyde Park Gardens, and then extended the contract to Tyntes Place which he renamed Tyntesfield. In both properties principal rooms, Crace installed wood panels and gold inlays, with oil-varnished woodwork and mouldings, and Gothic fireplaces.
  Tyntesfield had been demolished and rebuilt only 30 years before Gibbs purchased the property, and then remodelled by Robert Newton of Nailsea shortly before Gibbs purchased it. But between 1863 and 1865, with John Norton as architect and William Cubitt & Co. as builders, the property was substantially remodelled as the benchmark Anglo-Catholic Gothic Revival architecture country house. Norton's design wrapped the original house, adding: two new wings; an extra floor; and towers. Norton, whose designs intended to offer the illusion that the house was the work of several different historical periods, emphasised the restoration of architectural continuity as Gibbs's religious faith emphasised the Church of England's rediscovery of its Catholic traditions. Resultantly, while some walls remained plain others were decorated with a mixture of Gothic and naturalistic carvings. The front and south faces are faced in one shade of Bath Stone, while the rear west facing is faced in a second. Norton topped the design with a concerted effort to dramatically reshape the roof, resulting in an irregularly stepped shape. The result was described by novelist Charlotte Mary Yonge, a cousin of Blanche Gibbs, as "like a church in spirit."
  The interiors were equally dramatic. Crace was again engaged to remodel the interiors, in some places extending or adapting his initial works, in others providing new schemes. These were added to by Gibb's extending collection of art works.
  After completion of the main building works, Gibbs withdrew more monies by selling shares in Antony Gibbs & Sons, which enabled him to purchase two adjoining properties to create a farming estate, founded on dairy production and forestry management. At its peak, Tyntesfield spanned over 6,000 acres (2,400 ha), encompassing 1,000 acres (400 ha) of forestry, spanning from Portishead in the north to the south of the valley in which the main house lay, and employing more than 250 workers across house and estate.
  Gibbs' final addition to Tyntesfield was between 1872 and 1877, when he commissioned Arthur Blomfield to add a dramatic chapel to the north side of the house. It housed an extensive crypt, in which Gibbs intended to be buried. However, combined opposition from both the vicar of the local All Saints Church, Wraxall and the church's patrons, the Gorges family, led to the Bishop of Bath and Wells decreeing that he would not sanction the consecration of Tyntesfield's chapel, through fears that it would take power away from the local population fully into Gibb's hands. Despite this, the chapel formed a central part of life at Tyntesfield, holding twice-daily prayer meetings for the family and their guests, which after evening prayers the patriarch Gibbs in his chair bade each family member and guest goodnight in turn. In praise of the resultant building, Yonge hailed the chapel as the necessary culmination of the Tyntesfield project, giving "a character to the household almost resembling that of Little Gidding", the Huntingdonshire home of Nicholas Ferrar during the reign of Charles I who was much idealised by 19th-century Anglo-Catholics.
caption: The Arthur Blomfield designed chapel, as viewed from the main entrance courtyard
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